Issue - meetings

The report outlines the council’s Business Rates Relief Scheme for businesses accredited with the Living Wage Foundation. The scheme was first trialled as a pilot in January 2015 in order to encourage more businesses to become accredited as Living Wage employers and runs until 31 March 2019.  Cabinet approval is being sought to continue the scheme for a further four years until March 2023, with the report setting out different options for how the scheme is implemented in this next phase. 

RESOLVED that:

i)     Cabinet approved the continuation of a discretionary business rates discount scheme for businesses accredited with the London Living Wage Foundation, using the qualifying criteria set out in Appendix A to the report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration & Environment.

ii)    Cabinet approved the continuation of the scheme for a four year period from 1April 2019 to 31 March 2023.

iii)   Cabinet approved the introduction of a cap on the maximum discount a business can receive, in line with Option 2 detailed in paragraphs 3.19 - 3.20 of the report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration & Environment , and that the cap be set at £15,000 to guard against the Foundation increasing their costs again and large businesses being eligible for a higher discount.

iv)   Cabinet noted that officers in Employment, Skills, and Enterprise and Customer Services would monitor the scheme in terms of take up and costs and would report back to Cabinet at a later date should any changes to the scheme be required.

Councillor Shama Tatler, Lead Member for Regeneration, Planning and Highways, introduced the report regarding the council’s Business Rates Relief Scheme for businesses accredited with the Living Wage Foundation. The scheme was first trialled as a pilot in January 2015 in order to encourage more businesses to become accredited as Living Wage employers. The scheme had been reviewed in 2016 to assess its effectiveness and a three year extension to the programme had  subsequently been agreed. The current scheme would end on 31 March 2019. The report sought Cabinet approval for the continuation of the scheme for a further four years until March 2023. Four options were set out in the report for Cabinet to consider with regard to the scheme implementation: 1) retaining the scheme in its existing form; 2) retaining the scheme at five times the cost of accreditation but imposing a cap of the maximum discount a business could receive; 3) retaining the scheme at a lower value; and 4) not renewing the scheme. The officer recommendation detailed in the report was to approve option 2 as it provided the greatest incentive to businesses to pay the London Living Wage whilst capping the financial risk to the council

RESOLVED that:

i)     Cabinet approved the continuation of a discretionary business rates discount scheme for businesses accredited with the London Living Wage Foundation, using the qualifying criteria set out in Appendix A to the report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration & Environment.

ii)    Cabinet approved the continuation of the scheme for a four year period from 1April 2019 to 31 March 2023.

iii)   Cabinet approved the introduction of a cap on the maximum discount a business can receive, in line with Option 2 detailed in paragraphs 3.19 - 3.20 of the report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration & Environment , and that the cap be set at £15,000 to guard against the Foundation increasing their costs again and large businesses being eligible for a higher discount.

iv)   Cabinet noted that officers in Employment, Skills, and Enterprise and Customer Services would monitor the scheme in terms of take up and costs and would report back to Cabinet at a later date should any changes to the scheme be required.